Law, politics and constitutionalism

Both India and the states of the European Union are spaces defined by constitutional law and the operations of democratic politics. In both too, the relationship between these two domains, of law and politics, is the subject at once of increasing practical awkwardness and intellectual puzzlement. This research inquiry will consider in comparative terms the contemporary legal and political experiences of India and the EU. Themes to be examined will include the trends towards and implications of the ‘judicialization of politics’; the tension between growing ‘activism’ of Courts and judges and deepening democratic processes in India and Europe; the parallel, and apparently contradictory trends encapsulated by the internationalization of law (the increasing role of international law in domestic, national contexts) and the privatization of law (the role on regulatory agencies in governing economic and social life); and the contest of authority between the claims of impartiality (courts and the law) and the weight of numbers (democracy). Given this range of parallel predicaments, there is great scope for collaborative investigation with an India-European focus.